AI for Orchestrators Newsletter #3

Author

Pat Halford
December 23, 2023

AI for Orchestrators Newsletter - #3

The latest AI insights for Business Leaders and Organisational Orchestrators

Staccato Provocation: How can leaders keep up with their teams? The gap between strategy and tactics is closing because of the viral explosion of ChatGPT and other tools across functions. How will the organisational workflows morph, which functions will disappear, how will GPT-native companies roll over traditional ones…?

Hello Orchestrators!

What’s happening with all those savings accruing from the early application of ChatGPT and other GenAI tools across different functions? Is any one in your organisation tracking it?

Emergent properties are arising from the use of generative AI across different tasks, jobs and functions within organisations. Interesting new side effects are appearing. The budgetary process will have to evolve soon to become more dynamic and responsive. Organisations will likely adopt a more agile budgeting approach, moving away from traditional annual budgets to more frequent reassessments and reallocations, reflecting the fast-paced market environment. This will allow for flexibility in fund re-allocation across teams, and for other tasks such as M&A, R&D or paying down debt.

And of course re-investing back into those teams from where the savings came from! Savings in one function could be quickly redirected to others facing resource constraints, or where additional investment can drive significant value. An interesting (cozier?) relationship between business leaders and the CFO will emerge. A CFO tooled-up with MS-Copilot brings a whole new set of business leverage into play, of course…

A new set of leadership skills will also be required, such as the ability to assess and decide on the impact (second order effects?) of cross-functional investment reallocations.

The gap between strategy and tactics will continue to narrow given the compound effects of GenAI adoption. The role of the CFO and the CHRO will dramatically shift in the next 2 years.

For now, lets take a trawl through this weeks key headlines worthy of a few seconds of your precious time, dear Orchestrators!

In todays newsletter:

  • Legal eagles getting a Harvey boost.

  • Two global giants get AI’d-up and hack their way through NDAs

  • Dropping the degree? What’s in store for the global learning industry?

  • Deep tech can emerge faster than in previous generations. Check the Finnish investment analysis from ‘23.

  • Sam’s blog - 17 points of wisdom to ponder.

This weeks news:

  • Lawyers are getting an upgrade (or outsourced?). An 80m series B for Harvey, the legal AI company already tearing through the hallowed halls of law offices, is a sure sign the costs of legal services are about to get disrupted.

  • ASML and Philips, two global giants based in Netherlands, held a hackathon between their legal teams to figure out how to automate contract negotiations. This one has profound implications given the credibility of the teams involved. Expect to see a lot of corporate effort poured into this one over the next year. The CFO will be re-doing the Legal departments budgets, and of course it opens up the possibility fo transacting business much faster!

  • Dropping the degree? Opening up the skills aperture and trashing old assumptions about needing a 4 year degree to kickstart your career could be good for candidates and companies. The question is, how to get it past the baked-in mindset pervading many organisations? According to a report in Intelligent.com things are on the move. Especially as AI’s can turbo-charge individual capabilities.

  • A Deep tech deep dive from Finland’s state-owned investment company, Tesi, provides some good insights into whats breaking through, and how and where the investments are being spread. What’s also interesting is the opportunity gap in Eastern Finland. Check the map on page 7.

  • Sam Altman’s blog is laced with nuggets. The latest one captures 17 key points that stir the pot and provide food for thought, both individually or as a combination. Well worth the reflection.

Staccato strategic noodle:

Exponential curves are easy to spot. Drag coefficients and resistance to the reality of your business situation are less so when you are operating in a bubble. Get out of the echo chamber and ask for opinions. People can be surprisingly willing to help, if you are prepared to listen.

5 (rolling) questions for Organisational Orchestrators:

  1. How accurately are we identifying and addressing exponential growth trends in our industry?

  2. In what ways might our current business strategies be resistant to change or new realities?

  3. Are we sufficiently challenging our assumptions and biases through diverse external perspectives?

  4. How effectively are we soliciting and integrating feedback from varied stakeholders?

  5. What measures are in place to ensure we are actively listening and adapting to external insights?

Staccato Book Plug…

Looking for a thrilling read over the Christmas break? You could checkout one of my Nordic thrillers, available on Amazon - both hand-crafted!

  • North Karelian Boomerang - a horror/thriller set in the snowy forests of Eastern Finland: Maija is an ex-cop, and ex-assassin. She’s also a functioning alcoholic, with a hunting business that’s almost breaking even. But when a horror from her past reaches out and threatens to drag her down into the maelstrom, she must summon up all of her lethal skills to save her family, as they are hunted through the snowy forests of eastern Finland.

    For a force of pure evil has awakened on the other side of the world, and it has travelled to this great northern land in search of vengeance. The question for Maija is, what does it have to do with her ex-husband?

    From the jungles of Queensland and Indonesia, to the vast lakes and forests of eastern Finland, a wolf pack is forming, and the hunt is on.

  • Tilda & Lærke - A chase thriller set across the Danish islands: Twenty-seven years ago they left her for dead on a Minorcan beach. Now she's back in Denmark, hunting them down one by one. But she got more than she bargained for, and opened up a vipers nest of assassins from a global organisation that will stop at nothing to neutralise her. Her one chance at salvation is her former lover, whom she hasn't seen in a quarter of century, and he is caught up in a complex web with one of her targets.
    From Jylland, across Fyn, and onto Sjælland, the chase is on as the most ruthless assassin races against time to get to her quarry before they kill her.